How to Buy a Dryer

If you have made up your mind and are ready to buy, let’s have a look at all the ins and outs: capacity, energy consumption, installation, and top models.

Dryer Advantages

You get an appliance that makes your daily routine much easier. What features does it have?

• Quick laundry drying – this appliance ensures dry clothes and other textile goods despite the weather.
• Additional cleaning – filtering helps to remove loads of dust, lints, and hair (it’s important for everyone, but especially for allergic persons and pet owners). This feature opens up an additional advantage – it gets rid of the dust on your clothes and generally at your home as well.
• Fresh clothes without washing – for example, you don’t need to wash, dry, and iron a piece of clothing if you put it on only once but stayed in a fuggy room, or if it stayed in your wardrobe for a while – you can easily freshen it up with steam.
• Dry shoes – some models have a special grill to put your shoes on it and dry them without deformation.
• Safety in use – control panel lock feature protects children from accidental door opening during heating.

Bonus – tidy home. If you can’t stand jeans hanging around your home and jumpers drying on towels, often do a lot of laundry, don’t have a balcony, a big bathroom, or just patience, you should definitely get an appliance with a drying feature or a separate dryer.

Dryer Disadvantages

This appliance has some drawbacks.

• It always takes some space as opposed to clothes drying racks that take place only when used.
• It increases electrical energy consumption (600-700 W per cycle for heat pump models and 4000-4600 W per cycle for condenser models).
• Noisy – the average produced noise level is 65-70 dB (the recommended level is up to 40 dB at daytime and 30 dB at night).
• It costs money – any appliance that makes your life easier (like a dishwasher or a robot vacuum cleaner) implies some expenses and a dryer is not an exception. The prices range from $300 to $4,500 for a home option.

How a Dryer Is Designed

As we know, water evaporates and turns to steam. The higher the air temperature is, the faster the water evaporates. That said, keeping the room ventilated is also important: the evaporation process slows down if the ambient air humidity rises.

Dryers work with these two factors in mind: they heat the things inside the drum up to 60-70℃, take away the humid air, and replace it with the dry air. Some appliances circulate the air with a fan, and others do it by collecting the condensed water.

Some blowers are equipped with a heat pump and have a higher price. But they do have their advantages like energy-saving and a wide range of programs. By the way, how do clothes get dry in the freezing cold?

At low temperatures there are two processes taking place one after another: at first, the water in the clothes freezes, and then ice particles evaporate. The lower the temperature is, the faster the water evaporates – it usually happens on a clear winter day.

Vented models

These models are equipped with a fan and an air duct. The humid air flows from the clothes compartment to a corrugated metal pipe that is connected to the ventilation or fixed on a window.

This kind of unit needs a fresh air access that is usually provided with two pipes – an inlet and an outlet. Such a difficult installation process drives away customers who just want to buy and put it in its place, that is why the vented units are more common for professional laundries, dry cleanings, and hotels.

Condenser models

This model has a heater and a fan, as well as a condenser unit (a part made of metal plates) that receives the hot air from the compartment and the room temperature airflow.

As a result of heat exchange, the condensed water gets collected on the plates and further flows to the drain or a container.

If you use a container, it should be emptied after every cycle. The same principle is employed in combo appliances combining the functions of a washer and a dryer.

A separate appliance with a water collection tank can be installed in any place with access to an electrical connection. If you have a combo unit or a drain system, you will also need the drain access.

Heat pump models

At the moment, dryers with heat pumps are considered the most advanced units on the market. They work with the help of a heating element, a fan, a compressor, an evaporator, a condenser, and the cooling medium. The heating element heats the moisture in the clothes and evaporates it, then it is further condensed into water, while the dry air gets heated and flows back to the drum. 

Comparison of Drying Types

This side-by-side comparison allows you to easily find the most suitable appliance for your needs: you can see which feature is a must, and which one can be compromised to cut the costs.

How to Install a Dryer

There are three ways to install the appliance: directly on the floor, above a washing machine, and inside a closet, for example, in a kitchen or bathroom.

If you want to install the appliance:

• Separately – you are limited only by the dimensions, an accessible socket, and vent or drain connection;
• Above the washing machine – you can use default fixtures or extra brackets. Before that, use a level to check if the bottom appliance is installed evenly.
• Under a tabletop, inside a closet – this option is available if the vent is integrated into the furniture, otherwise the produced heat and moisture will facilitate mold growth and damage tabletops and walls.

If you want to fix a dryer above a washing machine, you should buy an extra stacking kit.

Choose a remote place away from your bedroom and kids’ room: if you’re planning to dry your laundry at night or early in the morning, the vibration and rotation noise will disturb your sleep.

Energy Consumption, Dimensions and Loading Type

All appliances with heating elements consume a lot of energy, while dryers consume 3-4 times more than washing machines. The manufacturers do their best to reduce the energy consumption.

The most energy-efficient class A and B units consume less energy, while class C units have the highest energy consumption. The more pluses a letter has (A+++), the more energy-efficient the model is.

Energy consumption of different appliance types:

• А+++ – 150-200 kW/year;
• А++ – 160-230 kW/year;
• А+ – 180-250 kW/year;
• А – from 200 to 290 kW/year;
• В – from 450 to 650 kW/year;
• С – more than 650 kW/year.

The units differ in width a lot, which is important if you have a small bathroom or plan to hide the appliance in a closet.

Average dryer dimensions:

• width – from 1’10" to 2’4";
• depth – from 1’10" to 2’2";
• height – from 2’9" to 2’9.5".

Capacity:

• Less than 9 lbs. is enough for two people, but such models are too small for big puffer coats or sleeping bags.
• 11-13 lbs. is enough for a family of 4, the drum volume will be up to 3.5 cu. ft.
• Loading up to 24 lbs. per cycle is an option for big families or companies.

The dryers are divided into two types of loading:

• Horizontal – clothes are loaded through a round door on the side (as in a regular washing machine);
• Vertical – clothes are loaded through a top cover (such a unit cannot be stacked on a washer).

Tips for New Dryer Users

• Follow the recommendations – dry clothes according to the clothing labels. Don’t be tempted to use the maximum mode to get your clothes dry for a walk in half an hour.  Your clothes may shrink by one size or even more.
• Test a silent or night mode in the daytime – many manufacturers claim their units to have a low level of noise, but they are still not quiet enough for the nighttime.
• Don’t overload – if your dryer has a fast drying mode (up to 20 minutes), it is probably suitable only for 1-2 pieces of clothes. Otherwise, it’s impossible to dry all the seams, pockets, and creases.
• Be patient – if you want to unfold all the creases on your clothes, it requires a separate operation cycle carried out after the drying.